


Zero

by yolk_sac



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Gem Egg Hell, Miscarriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-31
Updated: 2015-10-31
Packaged: 2018-04-29 01:57:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5112101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yolk_sac/pseuds/yolk_sac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peridot's worst nightmare comes true.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Zero

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the song of the same name by Lamb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43dsR77b_gQ

Peridot was fuckin massive

She was in month five out of her ten month pregnancy and she was already quite big. She sensed a lot of gemlings inside her – much more than her previous litter of eight! She lovingly nuzzled Jasper, her mate. Jasper responded by giving Peridot a love bite on her neck, which evolved to roughhousing. Peridot giggled as the two played together, jumping and pouncing and teasing. Jasper grabbed Peridot and lifted her in the air.

“Jasper, can you stop? I don't feel well...” Peridot said as she placed a hand on her stomach. Jasper placed her back on the ground and gave her a concerned look. What was wrong? It was rare for gems to feel off, and it worried Peridot. This malaise was sudden and unprompted. She sat down as a dizzy spell came over her.

A muscle spasm rolled through her lower body, shaking her to the core and sending a shiver down her spine. What was that about? The affliction plaguing her had disappeared as quickly as it had started. Peridot rose back to her feet and gravity shifted her as she stood up. She felt something warm and wet running down her leg.

The shorts that Steven bought her were soaked. Peridot looked at Jasper, but it didn't seem like she had noticed. Tentatively, she pulled them down to her knees. She wasn't sure what to expect, but it certainly wasn't what she saw.

A gemling. Barely formed, its skin nothing more than a thin membrane covering the most rudimentary of bones and organs. Its eyes were too large for its head and they were black, soulless, and empty. Atop its head was a triangular green gem: a peridot.

Peridot screamed. There was pain and confusion in her voice as she screamed until her voice was nothing but a hoarse crackle. Then she screamed some more.

Trembling, Peridot picked up the dead gemling and brought it to her face. How did this happen? _Why_ did this happen? Instinctively, she tried to lick it clean. Maybe she could revive it! Everything was going to be okay. She just had to lick it and it would wake up. Why wasn't it waking up? Please, wake up!

Jasper didn't know what to say. She was frozen in place. She had _never_ heard Peridot wail like that before, and it scared her. Jasper's stomach churned as Peridot fervently tried to revive the baby. It was dead! Its skin was sloughing off in her mouth! Still, Jasper couldn't will herself to move.

Peridot didn't know, but she had miscarried. Jasper's roughhousing had nothing to do with it. There were too many babies in her, and for the rest to thrive and grow, one had to be removed. The little one had no chance.

Pearl had heard the screaming from inside the temple. Fearing for the worst, she ran to the shack in which Peridot and Jasper were staying, spear in hand. Steven trailed behind her.

“Peridot? What's wrong?” Pearl kicked the door open to find Peridot with her back turned, crouched above an unrecognizable object. Jasper stood above her, an expression of fear and confusion on her face. She had never seen Jasper look so _scared_. “Peridot...?” Pearl moved closer to try to get a closer look at what the green gem was holding in her hands.

“Don't come near me!” Peridot snarled at Pearl, baring her teeth in a clear display of aggression. It took Pearl aback; she had never seen a gem look so animalistic.

“What happened?” Pearl asked Jasper. She was worried, both for Peridot and the safety of herself and Steven.

“She... the... the baby,” Jasper sputtered out, pointing at the object in Peridot's hands. “It... It just fell out! We were playing and she didn't feel good and it just fell out! I have no idea what's going on, I... I think it's dead!”

“No! Don't say that! Please, no. No no no!” Peridot was hysteric. She turned around to face Steven and Pearl, the dead gemling on full display. Pearl gasped in horror. She had never seen such a thing. Looking at it made her feel uneasy.

Steven pushed Pearl aside to face Peridot. He knelt down in front of her and touched her arm. She let him. “I can try healing your baby,” he asked with the most gentle of inflections.

Peridot's eyes lit up. A glimmer of hope. She presented the dead gemling to the boy, who in turn licked his palm and placed it atop of the fetus. Pearl cringed.

Nothing.

Peridot's heart sank once again. She finally broke down and cried as reality hit her. It was dead. Her baby was dead. She could do nothing but sob. It was her duty to grow and nurture her babies inside of her and she failed. One was dead and it was all her fault.

–

“Peridot?” Steven knocked on the door later that night. “I brought you something...” He pushed it open to see Peridot still lying in the same position from earlier. Her eyes tracked Steven, but the rest of her was motionless. Jasper sat next to her, stroking her arm with her thumb. She shot daggers at Steven. They still weren't on the best of terms.

“Here,” Steven said and presented a banana to the green gem. “I brought you a banana. I know how much you like them.”

Peridot wasn't in the mood for eating. Still, she took the banana from Steven and toyed with it in her hands. It was about the size of the gemling. Everything reminded her of it. She couldn't get the image of its dead eyes out of her mind.

“Thank you, Steven,” Peridot whispered, her voice hoarse and weak. “Come sit with me,” she instructed. She couldn't bear to be around her first litter, they'd only remind her of the one she lost. However, she had no problems being with Steven, her “adopted” son. They bonded during her first pregnancy, giving Peridot maternal feelings towards him. She would lick and nuzzle him like she would toward a newborn gemling. He tolerated it.

Steven did what she said, curling up in the curve of her body. She buried her face into his hair and nuzzled his scalp with her nose; this was the first bit of affection she showed anybody since earlier that day. Behind them, Jasper sneered. She didn't like Steven, and seeing her mate treat him like one of their offspring put a terrible taste in her mouth. Still, if it made Peridot feel better, so be it.

“Are you going to be okay?” Steven asked. He was worried about Peridot. He knew she could be moody and irrational. He didn't want her to hurt herself.

Peridot was silent. She inhaled deeply, letting Steven's scent linger in her olfactory nerves. It brought her peace. She nodded weakly and rested her head down on the ground again, closing her eyes, a cue for Steven to go.

–

“Hey.” Steven heard a gravely voice call out after him as he left the shack. He turned around to see Jasper following behind him. “Thanks for taking care of her. She's a wreck.”

“No problem,” Steven replied, craning his neck to look up at Jasper. “Are you sad?” he asked her.

Jasper froze. She was quite upset, but she would never admit it - especially to Steven. “How about you mind your own business?” she spat.

Steven stood his ground. He could tell she was sad, he could see right through her facade. Without saying a word, he approached Jasper and hugged her leg. Jasper could have kicked him and sent him flying, but she didn't. She didn't reciprocate, but she allowed him to show her affection.

“Tell Peridot I love her,” he said as he broke away from the hug and started walking back to the house.

“I will,” Jasper replied.


End file.
